


if only he has listened

by ballerinaroy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Brothers, Family Issues, Gen, War of Wrath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-22
Updated: 2020-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22364314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballerinaroy/pseuds/ballerinaroy
Summary: Regulus sees his brother for a final time.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	if only he has listened

Regulus half expected him not to show. Perhaps more than half for when Sirius marched down the alleyway his entire heart stopped for a moment. Gone was any trace of excitement, the joy or worry that Regulus had once anticipated on his brother’s face and instead replaced with only a hard look of disappointment. He could hardly blame his older brother. Regulus knew what he’d done, what his brother expected of him.

“I heard mother passed,” Sirius said without any type of greeting. “Is this about the estate?”

Regulus shook his head. “All to me,” he answered leaving out the _for now_ and leaving out the _but I made sure that it’d go to you when…_

“Then what do you want?” he asked roughly.

The secret felt ready to burst out of him. Announcing his repentance, that he’d seen the light, realized what he’d gotten himself into. He’d been young, too young to understand what he’d been doing. But now it was too late, there was no turning back. His only stab at redemption.

“He knows,” Regulus whispered to him.

Sirius’ eyes narrowed but there was no mistaking what they were talking about. “Knows what?”

“That it’s you,” Regulus said. He wasn’t here to play games. It was already a risk enough, them meeting. “One of your friends, I don’t know who, they’ve betrayed you.”

Immediate, uncontrolled anger overtook Sirius’ face and in the next moment he’d gathered up the front of Regulus’s robes, pinning him to the wall behind.

“My friends would never-“ Sirius growled. “They’re nothing like your lot, we know what loyalty is.”

He knew he should be frightened. Never before had he been on the receiving end of his bother’s rage but he suddenly understood the whispers of Sirius’ strength. But, despite that, Regulus felt strongly calm. He knew his brother would never hurt him, no matter the sides of the issue they stood on. Still, he was beginning to struggle for air.

“And what do I have to gain from lying to you?”

Sirius let out a growl and loosened the grip on Regulus’ robes. He struggled against gasping for air, proving how rattled the sudden movement had made him.

“The Dark Lord has one of them in his pocket."

“Prove it,” Sirius snarled.

But he couldn’t, no more than he could prove what he knew…suspected. It was a small comfort to know that it would only be hours yet before he discovered the truth. Kreacher had yet to return but once he did…

“I can’t,” Regulus answered. “Believe me, don’t. You’ve always made up your own mind and nothing I’ve ever said has changed it.”

It took another long moment, Sirius staring at him hard, but finally, he was released just before the trembling started.

“It was obvious it would have been you,” Regulus pointed out.

“You told-!“

“I didn’t have to!” he shouted, losing his temper for the first time. Didn’t Sirius understand what is a risk he’d taken, warning him? Being here? “Anyone who’s ever known you knows that you’ve always considered the Potters to be your true family.”

The deep hurt slipped from his mouth before he considered the words and he witnessed their intended effect. Sirius winced, only enough that a brother might have noticed, and something in his eyes softened. There it was, the look Regulus had been craving. The concern and confusion and all the things unsaid between them. Regulus had thought knowing his brother still loved him would bring him courage but instead he began considering the alternative.

“Why are you telling me?” Sirius asked quietly.

And the rest of it, what he’d discovered in his months getting close toVoldemort, was on the tip of his lips. If there was anyone who’d believe him, who’d ensure that the secret didn’t die with him, it was Sirius. He’d always protected Regulus, first against their mother then the hostilities of school. Even on the eve of pledging himself to the Dark Lord, Sirius had been there, trying to warn him. If only he had listened.

“He’s your family now,” Regulus, “I know you’d do anything to protect him.”

“Regulus,” Sirius said tenderly. “What’s going on?”

Again he considered it, revealing his closest secret. He didn’t fear not being believed, only the terror that he might be stopped, whisked away for his protection and all his efforts would go to waste.

“I wished I’d listened to you,” Regulus said quietly, the closest he dared to admitting his mistake. “You were right, about all of it.”

“I can help you,” Sirius promised at once, as if he hadn’t already the burden of another family on his shoulders, another brother. “Just tell me what’s going on and I’ll-“

But he couldn’t. And Regulus refused to risk his brother, his childhood best friend, the only person who’d truly had his best interests at heart.

Unwilling to let his brother see him crying, Regulus cut him off by embracing him, hiding his face in the dark hair identical to his own, relishing that his bother didn’t hesitate to hug him back.

“I know,” he whispered to Sirius. “Just, listen to me. At least one of us has to survive.”

And Regulus knew it wouldn’t be him.


End file.
